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ITV Report

1 October 2012 at 4:16pm

Ed Balls: Housebuilding decision should be made in Wales

The Shadow Chancellor says it would be up to the Welsh Government to decide how to spend its share of up to £4bn that he's called for to be spent on building new homes. Ed Balls said 100,000 affordable homes could be built with the proceeds of selling off the 4G mobile network.But he's told ITV News that any decision on what to spend that money on in Wales would be up to the Welsh Government.He also said that there are 'issues' with the way Wales is funded but stopped short of committing to reform the funding formula, saying it's the responsibility of George Osborne and Danny Alexander.

Well the announcement I've made today - 100,000 more homes - is UK-wide and it would be for Carwyn Jones and the Labour team in the Welsh Assembly to decide how to use that money best for Wales. That's the nature of devolution.I think the truth of this wider question of borrowing and spending is that Wales has benefitted from Barnett over a number of years but there are issues now.

The Welsh Assembly Government are taking these up with the Treasury, with George Osborne and Danny Alexander. And they're going to see whether the Government will listen. And I'm going to want to see the outcome of those discussions.

What I want is a fair deal for Wales and a fair deal for the taxpayer right across the UK and I'm going to keep working with my Welsh colleagues to make sure we deliver that.

Right now George Osborne is the one who's got to deliver. Let's wait and see.